Cabinet advice please......

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I'm on my way to unload the bagged grass from the pickup and returning by way of a lumberyard.

I'm going to start building the wall cabinets for my shop. I'm planning on using 3/4 plywood for the sides, tops, shelves and doors .....1x3 ripped for the face frames. The shelves and back will be dado into the sides. I want to hang them via French cleats. I have a couple full sheets of 1/2 plywood left over from covering the walls in my shop. Would 1/2 plywood be strong enough for the backs and hanging the cabinets?

[Mike Berndt]

Ken,
I think that 1/2" backing should be fine. Hoiw much weight do you plan and putting in these cabinets. How is the backing going to fit into the cabinet sides, top, and bottom???

[Ken Fitzgerald]

The back will be dadoed into the sides, shelves and bottom. The back will be recess approximately 3/4" from back of the sides and top so that the french cleat will nearly be flush with the sides. When hung, the cabinets will nearly be flush against the wall. I will rip a 2x6 with a 30º angle putting 1/2 on wall and 1/2 on the upper back. A piece of 1x3 will be attached near the bottom of the back to hold the cabinet out near the bottom and give me something to screw through into the wall to secure the cabinet and insure it doesn't jump off the french cleat. I hope this makes sense.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Of course everything will be glued and nailed.

[David DeCristoforo]

"Of course everything will be glued and nailed."

That would be the ticket because the backs are not really the concern (1/2" ply will be plenty strong) but, rather, the strength of the cleat which should be glued and fastened to the back as well as the top of the cabinet. Without considering any "ascetics" I would build them like this:
86342

[Richard Wolf]

David's design looks great, but I would move the bottom shelf up 1" so it can be dadoed instead of rabbited.

Richard

[David DeCristoforo]

"...move the bottom shelf up..so it can be dadoed instead of rabbited..."

And the top down too if you want, for the same reason. As long as the cleats are solidly attached....

[Ken Fitzgerald]

David and Richard,


Thanks....that's exactly what I had intended. If you think screws are the say to go, that's what I'll use. Just got back with my A-C plywood and others.

[David DeCristoforo]

"If you think screws are the way to go..."

I'm a big fan of "overbuilding"....
:D

[Ken Fitzgerald]

"If you think screws are the way to go..."

I'm a big fan of "overbuilding"....
:D

And I never apologize for doing a good job.:D

[Joe Chritz]

The 1/2 back is plenty by itself even without a cleat.

Use wide head cabinet hanging screws and it is good to go.

The french cleat would really add more versatility in being able to move them around than actual strength.

Joe

[Jim Becker]

Affirmative on the 1/2" material. It's plenty strong enough.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

Ken,
As usual, good advise from the Creek. Have fun building your cabinets.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Aw man.......

I hope I haven't screwed up my first shop cabinet. I'll see if I can get my cheap cad image to post here.

The long and short of it is I recessed my back 3/4" into the sides using dadoes. Everything is screwed and glued. The top is recessed into a dado. The french cleat is screwed and glued into the top sides and back. Dummy....only used a piece of 3/4" material for the cleat. Is that going to be strong enough?

[Eric DeSilva]

I was about to build some shop cabinets along the same lines--I'll probably domino the top/bottoms in, but I was planning on a 3/4" french cleat... And even thinking about 1/2"... So, my assessment is that 3/4" is plenty strong.

[Dirk Lewis]

Aw man.......

I hope I haven't screwed up my first shop cabinet. I'll see if I can get my cheap cad image to post here.

The long and short of it is I recessed my back 3/4" into the sides using dadoes. Everything is screwed and glued. The top is recessed into a dado. The french cleat is screwed and glued into the top sides and back. Dummy....only used a piece of 3/4" material for the cleat. Is that going to be strong enough?

Should be strong enough, might want to run a screw threw each corner into a stud as well?

Good thread Ken

[Eric DeSilva]

Think, for a moment, about how a "french cleated" cabinet might fail due to overloading... First, the cleat attached to the cabinet might come loose. Second, the cleat attached to the wall might come loose. Third, the cleat itself could shear apart. Fourth, your rabbet joints holding the sides to the top/cleat could rip loose or the bottom could rip out of the sides.

Of those, the threat that the cleat comes apart--using a 3/4" piece of wood--seems ridiculously small. The force on the cleat due to overloading is directed down and, due to the angle, into the wall. Your rabbet joints holding your cabinet together (and the cleat to your cabinet) are likely to fail well before the cleat somehow rips apart.

That leaves securing the cleat to the cabinet well and securing the cleat to the wall well. So, if you want to load your shelf with platinum bars or something, the thing to do would be to install a taller cleat on the wall, affix the cleat to each wall stud with more than one screw, and then screw through the back of the 1/2" plywood back into the cleat.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Eric,

That was my thoughts too but I read a post where they were recommending 2" material for a french cleat and I 'd only used 1" material.

[Peter Quinn]

If your talking width I like the cleats to be about 1 1/2"-1 3/4" top back to long point, so I usually rip them on a bevel out of 3 1/8" or 3 5/8" material to get the two mating pieces.

If your talking thickness 3/4" in most domestic hardwoods is enough to hold you, me, and an average sized gorilla. If using soft woods I tend to go 1"-1 1/4" thickness for the cleats. Not a huge fan of plywood for cleats.

[Greg Hines, MD]

Eric,

That was my thoughts too but I read a post where they were recommending 2" material for a french cleat and I 'd only used 1" material.



Your 1/2" or 3/4" cleat should be plenty strong. The shear force would make it difficult, maybe impossible, to pull it off the wall with just the weight of your cabinet. I put up my shop cabinet with 5/8" cleat, since it is what I was using for the cabinet and it was a scrap. I figure that the bottom, rabbeted and screwed in place, will fail long before that cleat.

Doc